Brakes India is looking at both the domestic market and exports to grow its business, said Sriram Viji, Managing Director, Brakes India, in an interview with Mobility Outlook.
The company is part of the TSF group (following the recent restructuring of the TVS group) which also has within its fold Wheels India and Axles India managed by the T S Santhanam family.
Brakes India’s exports at INR 1,200 crore take up a little over 20% of total sales, and Viji was confident that they would grow more than the domestic market in the next five years.
By 2027, he added, overall sales would double, with exports growing three-fold. “This is what we are setting ourselves as an aspiration for us; what we get depends on market conditions,” said Viji.
As part of this effort, Brakes India launched the 22.5-inch lightweight monobloc single piston air disk brake at the IAA Transportation 2022 in Hannover. It is for the first time in the company’s 60-year history that a product has been launched globally.
The new offering has been tested to global standards and is expected to be a benchmark in the commercial vehicles segment. According to Brakes India, it is significantly lighter at 34 kg, including the pad, compared to the dual-piston system of the company, and can be used in buses, trucks and trailers.
Tested for over a million kilometres, the system has fewer internal adjuster parts and monobloc housing to reduce design failure modes. Designed and tested for twin-piston duty cycles of buses and trucks, its structural rigidity has been enhanced by 25% to 0.6g torque over conventional systems.
Hence it can be used with low μ (mu - coefficient of friction - the ratio of the frictional force resisting the motion of two surfaces that are in contact with the normal force that presses the two surfaces together) brake pads and smaller air chambers.
This is a significant property that can draw customers from Europe and North America, where buses, trucks and trailers largely operate in snowy conditions for a large part of the year.
The system has a double sealing to check the influx of foreign bodies to the adjuster assembly. It also has anti-taper wear, 360 sq cm of brake pad contact area and a 434mm diameter rotor for better cooling and service life.
Viji said the new brake system, which is suited to Indian conditions too, is ready for overseas markets with validations in place. “It is ready-to-go for trucks, buses and trailers applications in global markets. We will be launching all common products simultaneously in all markets,' he added.
Market For New products
Viji was confident of niche applications with the product in the US and South America. “We will start in this direction where we think we can penetrate the market and learn better. This will be our first step,” he said. According to him, it was better to be prudent and understand customer expectations before slowly penetrating the market.
Brakes India was part of a joint venture with German automotive systems maker ZF Friedrichshafen AG for many years, which has not precluded it from working on new product development on its own. This has gained traction during the last five years; accordingly, it has accelerated the speed of developing new products, which called for an increase in its R&D spending by about 50%.
The company has also sped up its time-to-market while streamlining R&D to develop new products and manufacturing processes. It is now sharpening its focus on further development, especially in the electronics space.
It was in June last year when ZF divested its 49% stake but continues its technology licence and supply agreements with Brakes India. “It is a big change as ZF was our technology partner for nearly 60 years. We will face challenges in terms of continuity of some of the technologies. However, only about 27% of total sales depended on ZF technologies,” said Viji.
Even within this space, the company has localised many products and there is only a small portion left without technological continuity. “We will continue to work with our partners, including ZF, to see where we can see the right technologies for the product,” he added.
Electrification
As for electrification, Viji said there would be “a lot of significant shifts” in the core products portfolio over the next five to ten years. “The braking systems remain steady in electric vehicles, even in the commercial vehicle segment. Therefore, we see core braking products including the new 22.5-inch lightweight air disk brake fitting well in the EV portfolio,” he elaborated.
The company has also provided braking systems for many electric buses operating on the roads as well as electric passenger car platforms. “We are very much EV-ready,” he reiterated.
TSF Companies at IAA
Other TSF Group companies like Wheels India and Axles India showcased their products at the IAA show. While the former exhibited its painted milled wheel and powder matt black wheel for the commercial vehicle segment (suitable for truck and trailer applications up to 5,000 kg load), the latter displayed stronger 9T–12T trailer axles fully dressed from hub to hub and compatible with air suspension.
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